Gentle Nutrition

Written by Michelle Shelton

Jan 16, 2024

The world of health and nutrition have become an emotional battle ground, fraught with a minefield of guilt, anxiety, and confusion. Headlines that tout foods that will kill you or heal you give food choices more credit and more weight for the role they play than they may actually deserve. What you eat matters, but it is not an all or nothing game. Eating only brownies and ice cream will not make you feel good, and it will not promote good health. But you can eat brownies and ice cream in a balanced diet and live a healthful life. 

Gentle nutrition is an approach to eating that allows you to honor your health and choose healthy eating without letting it run your life. It is in the metaphoric car, but it’s not driving the car. Gentle nutrition is also about letting go of any guilt that may be tied to certain foods. Where rigid nutrition drives black or white thinking, good or bad foods, gentle nutrition values taking care of and nourishing your body, but is not scared off by a cookie. Rigid nutrition likes tight diet rules that should not be broken. Gentle nutrition likes balance and moderation.

Rigid nutrition has driven many of us to push back against healthy eating all together. The rules have become too burdensome. Maybe you’re tired of being hungry all the time, or tired of the guilt for not eating how you “should”. Maybe you are tired of missing out on your favorite foods, or tired of missing out on life in general. It might feel too hard or unreachable, so what’s the use?

If any of these sentiments resonate with you, it may be time to make peace with nutrition. Making peace with nutrition means:

1. Losing the diet rules. Let go of all the rules and restrictions with eating and open yourself back up to the full range and diversity of food. Cue-in to all the times you say “should” in relation to eating. Then ask yourself where this rule comes from. Does it come from a place of inner wisdom (I want this, I need this) or from an external ruler restriction? If the latter, try to shift back to a place of internal wisdom. 

2. Losing the guilt. Our food choices should not make us feel guilty. They should make us feel nourished and good. Guilt is not a nourishing emotion, and it is not helpful. If anything, it blocks us from feeling our natural intuition when we are truly satisfied and have had enough of a food. If you feel guilty about eating ice cream, you are more likely to eat too much. (You’ve already blown it, so might as well eat as much as you can. You’ll get back on your ‘diet’ tomorrow.) Losing the guilt allows you to tune-in to when you have had enough. You will naturally self regulate all foods, including foods that you may have previously labeled as ‘bad.’

3. Paying attention to how food tastes. You should enjoy your food! Fully immerse yourself in your eating experience. Enjoy it. Notice when you’re not enjoying it or when it isn’t tasting as good. Don’t settle for foods just because they are ‘healthy.’ Strive for foods that nourish your body and your palate. 

4. Paying attention to how food makes you feel. Eating ‘play foods’ (foods that have little nutritional value) all of the time will not feel good after a while. And it will not taste good after a while, either. As you pay attention to how foods make you feel, you will naturally include nourishing foods that honor your health. 

Gentle nutrition allows you to honor both your physical and psychological needs. Your relationship with food matters as much as the foods you eat matter. Nutrition is important, but you do not need to eat perfectly to be healthy. Part of eating healthy is cultivating a healthy relationship with the foods you eat and with the eating experience. And, in fact, nutrition is just one of many factors affecting overall health outcomes. Some studies have documented that factors such as social connection have a significantly higher effect on health outcomes and mortality than diet quality. What you eat matters, but it is just part of the picture and there is plenty of room for all foods in a balanced diet.